Wayne Fontana was an English singer best-known as the singer of “The Game of Love” (1965), covered as “Quand tu es là” by Sylvie Vartan that same year.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
RIP Michael Sorkin (1948 – 2020)
This happened in March but I only found out today.
How?
By reading Pandemic! by Slavoj Žižek which has a commemoration for Sorkin as epigraph.
Michael Sorkin was an American architect, architectural critic and activist.
An outdated version of Wikipedia says Sorkin was an outspoken supporter of politically leftist causes.
In 2005, he edited Against the Wall, which compares Israel to Apartheid South Africa.
This book caught my attention, as the geopolitical situation of the Middle East is becoming more and more of interest of me.
Not so long ago, it dawned on me that the Middle East was becoming my WWII. Allow me to explain. When I was younger I regularly came into contact with older gentlemen who were fascinated by everything which had to do with World War II.
World War II has never interested me much, except for the Holocaust.
As I grow older, I become fascinated with everything Middle East, with geopolitics and with clashes of civilization.
RIP Reinhold Aman (1936 – 2019)
This happened in 2019 but I only found out today. How? Well, I consider writing a book, an anthology of haatspraak.
Haatspraak is Dutch for hate speech and the book would be something along the lines of Rants and Incendiary Tracts (1989).
For this purpose, I wanted to get Maledicta from my university library. They do not have it.
Who was Reinhold?
Reinhold Aman was the editor and founder of Maledicta. Incidentally, maledicta means male (bad) and dicta (things people say).
Reinhold appears to have been a colourful figure and spent some time in jail for sending what he called “prank” postcards to his ex-wife to be, but which the judge considered to be threats.
RIP Alan Parker (1944 – 2020)
Alan Parker was an English filmmaker with a small but highly-rated output.
I give you “The Chase”, an electronic instrumental written by Giorgio Moroder for Parker’s film Midnight Express (1978).
Midnight Express, a story of drug smuggling and dirty Turkish prisons, was banned in Turkey under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.
This caused a strain on US–Turkish relations.
RIP CP Lee (1950 – 2020)
CP Lee, was a British musician, author, broadcaster and lecturer from Manchester, England.
He was co-author of the witty composition “Gerry and the Holograms” (1979) which shows similarities with “Blue Monday” (1983) but then without the nagging tone which makes the latter nearly impossible to listen to in full.
CP Lee was also an authority on Dylan, a Dylanologist one might say. His comments after Dylan received the Nobel Prize were both deep and sharp.
He also contributed marginally to Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010), an insightful documentary on the video nasty phenomenon.
RIP Bent Fabric (1924 – 2020)
Bent Fabric (1924 – 2020) was a Danish composer and pianist.
RIP Malik B. (1972 – 2020)
Malik B. was an American rapper and singer who was a founding member of The Roots.
Although he did some solo work, his most interesting work was with that group, where he was a rapper rather than a song-writer.
If you are unfamiliar with the work of The Roots, check “The Seed” (2002).
RIP Olivia de Havilland (1916 – 2020)
Olivia de Havilland was a French-British-American actress.
She is best known for her part in Gone with the Wind (1939).
However, I remember her most fondly for her part in the psychological horror movie Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). In that film she is the evil Miriam Deering.
Above is the scene in Hush … Hush in which Olivia and Bette Davis get rid of the supposedly dead body.
RIP Peter Green (1946 – 2020)
Peter Green (1946 – 2020) was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist.
He was the co-founder of Fleetwood Mac.
He is perhaps best known for penning “Black Magic Woman” (1968).
However, I remember him most fondly for his instrumental “Albatross” (1968).
RIP Dobby Dobson (1942 – 2020)
Dobby Dobson was a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.
His signature song was “Loving Pauper” (c. 1970)